The present invention relates to tobacco products, such as smoking articles, and in particular, to packages for containing tobacco products.
Popular smoking articles, such as cigarettes, conventionally have been sold in packages. Typically, each full package contains about 20 cigarettes. Cigarettes have been packaged in containers known as so-called “soft-packs.” See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,695,422 to Tripodi; U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,017 to Sprinkel, Jr., et al.; and, U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,729 to Wolfe; which are incorporated herein by reference. Cigarettes have also been packaged in containers known as so-called “hard-packs” or “crush proof boxes.” See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,581 to Fox et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,066 to Niepmann; and, U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,734 to Allen et al.; which are all incorporated herein by reference.
Various modifications have been proposed to the so-called “hard pack” cigarette package designs to enhance the consumer acceptance of the package. For example, it has been disclosed to round off the portions leading to the corners of the package to yield a “pillow-type” cigarette package, such has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,694,708 to Brizzi et al. which is incorporated herein by reference. Alternatively, it has been disclosed to provide multiple methods of accessing the cigarettes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,986 to Cobler, U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,140 to Burrows et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,031 to Burrows et al., which are herein incorporated by reference, disclose a removable portion of the lid of a hard-pack thereby providing for soft-pack style accessibility in addition to the hard-pack flip-top. In addition to these structural modifications, it is desirable to develop more attractive packaging for cigarettes.